We all experience this. You run into an old friend unexpectedly and greet them.
Their response includes something that you react to. It may have lasted only a fraction of a second. A raised eyebrow, indifferent smile, strange look, a shift in body language, the choice of a specific word… or the way it was said.
What ever it was, that tiny moment in time effected you in a way that has you thinking; is something wrong? Are you OK? Do you know a secret about me? You've forgotten my name!
The author describes the main subject of his book as “thin-slicing”: our ability to gauge what is really important from a very narrow period of experience. In other words, this is an idea that spontaneous decisions are often as good as–or even better than–carefully planned and considered ones. Gladwell draws on examples from science, advertising, sales, medicine, and popular music to reinforce his ideas. Gladwell also uses many examples of regular people's experiences with “thin-slicing.”
Gladwell explains how an expert's ability to “thin slice” can be corrupted by their likes and dislikes, prejudices and stereotypes (even unconscious ones), and how they can be overloaded by too much information. Two particular forms of unconscious bias Gladwell discusses are Implicit Association Tests and psychological priming. Gladwell also tells us about our instinctive ability to mind read, which is how we can get to know what emotions a person is feeling just by looking at his or her face. We do that by “thin-slicing,” using limited information to come to our conclusion. In what Gladwell contends is an age of information overload, he finds that experts often make better decisions with snap judgments than they do with volumes of analysis.
While reading Blink, I was struck by how people (yes they're experts on what they personally like/dislike) could be “Thin Slicing” our classes – and how they feel is based on just one little thing you do:
“I loved/hated the music” I love that she plays that new Pitbull song!
“She teaches a great class” Her smile makes me feel welcome/attractive/like I belong…
“It was boring” he looks like he's rather be somewhere else.
“He's awesome” he's the one Instructor here that remembers my name.
Slicing up your class into little pieces
There are 3600 seconds – in a 60 minute class. With 20 participants (who experience each of those seconds differently) your class could be Thin Sliced ~ 72,000 times or more. Yikes!
Now It would be ridiculous of me to suggest that you need to focus on that level. So how about just a few?
Let's start with this; how do you describe the people in your classes?
Students?
Members?
Riders?
Participants?
How about Pushers?
I was trading emails yesterday with Patty Kuhles who owns PUSH Cycle Studio in Prescott, AZ. Patty told me that they call their participants Pushers – which to me is a fantastic title to use as it connects everyone to her studio. I can hear one of their customers talking to a friend; “I'm a Pusher at PUSH Cycle Studio.” Kind of endearing, don't you think?
Let's go TEAM!
Brent Goodermont is an Instructor with Life Time Fitness. I took his class last month and was very impressed with how he referred to us as a TEAM.
It's time to really work now TEAM!
You need to keep up with the rest of the TEAM!
OK TEAM, you've earned this recovery 🙂
Now imagine that you ran into either Patty or Brent at the mall and they introduce you to a friend they're shopping with as…
This is [wlm_firstname], one of my Students…
This is [wlm_firstname], one of our Members…
This is [wlm_firstname], a Rider at our club..
This is [wlm_firstname], one of my Participants…
This is [wlm_firstname], one of our awesome Pushers…
Winter Training is on the minds of many of your class participants starting today! Base building, maintaining fitness and improving power are all things that the endurance athletes are looking for from you and your class. Are you prepared to deliver these things?
Gene Nacey from Cycling Fusion joins me to discuss why you should consider offering a structured winter training program and Gene describes how he created just such a program at his Global Ride Studio.
If you are interested in participating, contact Cycling Fusion at support@cyclingfusion.com.
Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using
WOW have things changed over the last three years! When I started the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast in August of 2008 I hated using videos in my Spinning classes and played them only when my students begged me. The simple reason was all we had to offer were bicycle racing DVD's. They were nothing but a distraction. I found it difficult to get my student's attention while they were fixated on the screen, waiting for some event like a crash or breakaway.
Now everything has changed and it's a rare class when I don't use a video from Epic Planet or Global Ride. Both of these DVD series add visuals that can form the profile for your class. Add a great playlist and I guarantee your class will enjoy the ride.
The only trouble is watching these awesome rides will have you longing to ride each route for real 🙂
Here a sample of the latest from the new Global Ride Indoor Cycling DVDs that feature three different videos; Paceline Cycling In France, Club Ride In France and TDF Climbing In France.
What unique about Global Ride's DVDs is that they include coaching tracks that could be used as a “virtual ride” in your studio during times when there is no Instructor to lead the class. You could also (actually I recommend) ride along with the coaching track by yourself to learn the profile of the video before teaching to it your class. Once you get the hang of it you can create your own profiles to use with theses videos or you can use one of ours like Audio PROfile #156
AFS – The Association of Fitness Studios – is the organization for small/boutique studios and it's my recommendation that Indoor Cycling Studio owners become members.
It's free to join as a basic member – register here.
In this episode of the Podcast, AFS founder Josh Leve and I discuss the many benefits of AFS membership. Learn why I feel joining the Association of Fitness Studios (AFS) is an important step for all Indoor cycling studio owners.
Here's Josh giving a short pitch on the benefits of membership.
Well we made it. One hundred and fifty miles, most of it sitting up front pulling our team. Amy and I have a new appreciation for what battling a continuous 20 mile an hour headwind feels like, over 70 miles – exhausting!
In past years, it was always our objective to get out as early as possible. Much of the first day is on paved railroad bike path, which can get pretty crowded. For some reason on Saturday the team decided to take a more leisurely time getting ready. Instead of our typical 6 AM start, we rolled out a little after 7:00. Not a good idea, especially when you tend to ride much faster than 80%-90% of everyone else on the ride. So we passed a lot of people and observed hundreds of bad bike fittings – some appearing to be incredibly inefficient and painful, which led to this idea…
Missed marketing opportunity for studio owners!
I've commented in the past how I see large charity cycling events as the perfect place to be promoting your Indoor Cycling studio. The MN event had over 3,500 participants and everyone is a potential customer. With over 100 Bike MS events scattered around the United States there's bound to be one near you.
I appears that the MS Society accepts two types of sponsors; paid promotional partners and in-kind sponsors. If you have a very well-funded indoor cycling studio it may make sense for you to investigate sponsoring a rest stop or a booth at one of the and points. The other way to get yourself in front of the 3,500 cyclists is to provide an in-kind service of some type. The best example would be the bike shops that provide maintenance and repairs at each of the rest stops. At the end of day-one there are a number of massage therapists and chiropractors offering their services to tired, but grateful, participants.
“But I'm an Indoor Cycling Instructor John… I can't fix bikes or massage tired muscles… what else could I do?”
Provide complementary bike fittings 🙂
Now this is just me thinking here, but if I owned a studio I'd look into providing complimentary bike fit services at the end of the first day. Trust me. there are hundreds and hundreds of clueless people, who would benefit dramatically in some simple adjustments to seat height. That might be all I would offer. If you found someone with a horribly wrong seat fore and aft position you may offer to change it or you may make some cleat adjustments. But with hundreds of potential fittings, I would be focused on quantity rather than quality. You may want to bring along a few turbo trainers to hold each bike while you check seat height. A few end wrenches, bicycle multitool and a small level + a few assistants to help would be all you need.
Your target would be the occasional rider. This event is probably the single largest ride they may ever do in their lifetime and they will appreciate any help that will improve their experience. Your service would not be directed toward the typical road bike rider who has the experience to recognize the importance of proper bike fit. You may want to set up a booth at registration with some simple signage explaining the service you provide. My guess is that you wouldn't get a lot of takers until after that first 80 mile day 🙂
Think Burma Shave signage.
You have a captive audience riding this paved trail
A series of inexpensive yard signs, positioned along the last 10 or 15 miles, with some clever verbiage that communicates how much more comfortable you would be properly fitted to your bicycle. You would have literally thousands of suffering people open to your promised relief. After all, they have tomorrow to think about… And many are dreading the thought of day two.
Leverage the event
The local TV stations love these active, feel-good events. Before I left for my class Monday morning, our local station ran a long segment about this past weekend's event. Reporters loved to be tipped off about interesting things they can talk about. If you called and pitched them about the importance of proper bike fit and how it makes for a more enjoyable long distance ride, there's a good chance they might bite on it. Your pitch is nothing about you or your studio, only about the service that you're providing to others. TV reporters know the game and it's natural for them to want to plug you and your studio in their report. With any luck you may end up on television and get the opportunity to invite tens of thousands of people to come and ride indoors with you!
